Swindon in the Past Lane

So while we're on the subject of Swindon Heritage I'd like to mention former editor Graham Carter. In case you missed it, Swindon Heritage was a quarterly magazine for lovers of local history and was co founded in 2013 by Graham, First World War historian Mark Sutton and myself. During our five year career we published 20 editions plus a Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary special. There are still copies available at a knockdown price in the Library Shop, Central Library and bound copies of all 21 editions are on the shelf in Local Studies. But this wasn't Graham's only heritage publication achievement. Graham worked on the Swindon Advertiser from 1989-1998 before going freelance, returning to produce one off supplements. One of the supplements he researched, wrote and designed was the Chronicle of Swindon, a free insert which told the story of Swindon from pre-history to the new millennium.  You probably can't get your hands on a copy of this fantastic publ...

The railway factory dominated life in Swindon for close on 150 years. When the Works closed in 1986 a raft of skills were lost, consigned to history, and a way of life ended. But are we guilty today of preserving a nostalgic and sentimental view of life in the railway factory, especially as it existed back in the good old days? Last month I attended a talk by Graham Carter about Alfred Williams who worked in the railway factory as a steam-hammer man for 23 and a half years. In 1912 he wrote a warts and all book called Life in a Railway Factory. It wasn’t published until 1915, three years after Alfred had left the factory, his own health compromised by years of back breaking labour. His book didn’t sell well in Swindon. You could say that with the vast majority of men employed in the Works they didn’t need or want to read about life ‘inside’ but was it more to do with fear of sanction by the GWR foremen? A less than favourable review appeared in the February 1916 edition o...

Multi-talented Graham Carter, journalist, artist, drummer, cyclist and DIYer extraordinaire, will be talking about Alfred Williams: Our Forgotten Local Hero this Thursday, May 30, 7.15 pm at the Central Community Centre in the railway village. It's easy to see why Graham is so inspired by polymath Alfred Williams, the South Marston boy who left school at the age of 11 and spent more than 20 years working in the railway factory; who taught himself Greek and Sanskrit, studied nature and wrote poetry and books about the Wiltshire countryside. The Central Community Centre, the setting for this  talk hosted by Swindon Civic Voice, has itself a multi faceted history. In 1862 the building began life as the armoury for the XI Wiltshire Volunteer Rifle Corps.  Then in 1871-2 it was converted into the GWR Medical Fund Hospital with one of the adjoining cottages made into nursing accommodation and later converted into a dispensary for the hospital. A temporary extension was add...

Do not be fooled by the casual mien of this group of people, chatting, making tea, waving.  This group knows more about the collective history of Swindon and its surrounds than you can shake a stick at. Members of the Swindon Society, Rodbourne Community History Group et al, independent researchers and freelance writers gather four times a year to look at what's new on the local history scene and last night's meeting was a doozy. Graham Carter, journalist and columnist on the Swindon Advertiser, gave the Swindon & District History Network a sneak preview of Swindon Heritage - an 80 page, all colour, glossy magazine due out Spring 2013 - the like of which Swindon has never seen before. Network members got to view a select few pages - the record of Swindon men's sacrifice during WWI by military historian Mark Sutton and a companion piece written by two Commonweal students just returned from a visit to the battlefields.  The story of the Stratton workhouse as seen ...